Common - Back Home lyrics

[Common] Uhh, yeah, yo We 'bout to take y'all to the tip, to the crib Let's do it Mike (yeah) [Hook: Mike Shinoda] Back home (back home) everybody's searching for something But all they can find's a whole lot of nothing Back home (back home) ain't nobody hopin and prayin Cause they feel like nothin can save 'em And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact That life goes black when those lights go out But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (back home) [Common] Back home, they holla "disciple" and "blackstone" Same block they freebase, yo we trapped on Where our grandmothers marched, the guns clap on There's liquor stores, beauty supplies and rap songs I travel the world just to come back to it The crib got a lot of soul like black music I'm attached to it, in many ways this city raised me And gave me the drama, honor and bravery The streets seem hollow, when I go to Chicago It's cheap wine and sorrow, times is hard to swallow In search of God's tomorrow, I borrow Words from the Bible, and use them for survival Gangs rival, signs painted on walls like hiero-glyphics I tell them that this is all tribal Used to do dirt, shorty's goin through the same cycle And trials like Michael, tryin not to stay idle - back home [Hook] [Ryu] Back home, it's not Compton but close, the same problems exist And the pain throbbin and folks are so common It don't, really bother us much, we just swallow it Uh, crack the bottle and smoke Hope tomorrow somethin magical happens that'll put me back in the biz But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim Back home, we get the good life at a glimpse In the form of a rap star, drug dealers and pimps I'm back, home [Tak] Back, home - I try my best to keep it together It's cold, like the Windy City streets of December I pace back and forth, lookin for the courage to shine But can't tap the source, need somethin to nourish my mind I know we all lose quite a bit in life, only to gain some Life or the dark winding roads we came from But I move with the night so I'm used to the shade And never lose sight, bringin truth back to the game [Mike Shinoda] Back, home - we've got a lot of sh** on our minds We're always behind on somethin cause there's not enough time And we're non-stop, bottom line, doin what we gotta do To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital Back home there's people callin us hopeless People tryin to tell us all we need is some focus But, focus, focus is overrated Cause you see every blemish and mistake and can't change it Back home is Alvarado, K-Town and J-Town Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know Where figures shiver, livin right in the litter Where kids write bigger, right inside the L.A. river On the concrete, a symbol of our everyday way It's that color and concentration over heavy and gray And by the time the ink dries on this page I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay (yeah) [Hook] [Outro: Common] We takin it back home y'all Yeah, it's Common Sense (yeah) My guy Mike (what up Com'?) S.O.B. (uh-huh) yeah This time we rotate, it's good music (ha ha ha) Hip-Hop (it don't stop) yeah, uhh It's home for me baby, yeah